


Serpents and Gardens

by agatharights



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-01-24 08:51:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1598927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agatharights/pseuds/agatharights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A replimat's worth of people are replaced by their teenage selves, courtesy of Q's attempt to impart a lesson. Of course, things become further complicated when a security officer is murdered, because it can never just be one thing at a time, can it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you have a great idea for a fun plot and no way how to actually make it happen so you gotta use Q. Thanks Q!

Things had been quiet. That was good, if not beyond good, as far as Sisko was concerned. Never, in the past few years, had he actually felt there was no immediate crisis or looming fear for a space of several days. Sure, there were always threats, but they had been distant, refusing to rear their heads.  
  
And as far as he cared, sipping his raktajino, they could stay that way indefinitely. When had he last had the time to just sit in the replimat and watch people go by?  
  
It was still early for lunch, and only a handful of people were milling into the replimat. A small group of starfleet engineers, human and Vulcan. A few Bajorans, talking amongst themselves and smiling over meals. Mister Garak had his own seat tucked into a corner, eyes on a PADD, politely being ignored by those around him. Even Kira seemed happy as she strode in and made her way to the replicator, nodding curtly to Ben as she passed.  
  
During these rare stretches of quiet, it made Ben feel peaceful, reflecting on much calmer times, times when he never would've thought about another quadrant and wormholes and maintaing a tense peace on Bajor. Just sitting here was reminding him of his early days before Academy, when he would visit the Starfleet bases and dream about having a uniform of his own someday, before applying.  
  
He'd missed these quiet times, when he was able to take a calm breath. It was just what Sisko had been needing, really, relaxing into his chair and taking a long, deep sip of his raktajino-  
  
"So, I've been thinking."  
  
He spent a good few seconds choking on his drink, before taking several long, deep breaths to calm himself, sitting up straight to glare at the man, if Q could be called that.  
  
"I really hate for there to be any sort of historical event without my attendance, no offense, but I feel like on a place that'll be as important as this wormhole, well...it'd be a shame if I didn't occasionally drop by!"  
  
Sisko said nothing, and narrowed his eyes, taking slow, even breaths. Nobody else had noticed Q yet, besides him.  
  
Maybe he could just punch the self-proclaimed allmighty being again and get this over with.  
  
"Now, before you get angry-"  
  
" _Too late_." Sisko growled.  
  
"-I'm a little disappointed in you, Benjamin." Q tutted, and Sisko began to tense. Q may have been some sort of energy being in truth, from all he had read, but he could hope that getting socked would still hurt like hell in a human body like that."Here you are, literally sitting upon the cusp of a new era, and you're doing what?"  
  
"I was having a nice, quiet day."  
  
"You're daydreaming about childish things!" Q huffed, as if personally offended by the very notion. "Ridiculous. If I were in your position, I'd be excited! And if you were in mine, you would be too: I already know what's to come."  
  
"..." Sisko inhaled deep through his nose, and stood. Q stood along with him, arms crossed, sighing and petulant. "I'm not interested in your games, Q, we've established that years ago."  
  
"I'm trying to help you!" Q rolled his eyes, hands up and palms out. "I want you to be in the game, Benjamin! Not remembering your past as if it were any better then, than it is now."  
  
By now, others had noticed, standing. The starfleet table was shifting, uncertain, waiting for Sisko's reaction, glancing nervously to and from one another.  
  
"And just what do you intend to do about it? Torment us, attempt to teach us some lesson as if you have the moral high ground?" Sisko stepped towards Q, fearless.  
  
"Well, if that's what you want." Q shrugged, smiling wide. "Here's a lesson for you. Your past is never as rosy as you remember it!"  
  
~  
  
"All security officers to the replimat, please." Odo's gruff voice cut through the comms.  
  
Julian flattened himself against the wall of the Promenade to avoid being stampeded down by Odo and Security as they ran past, a fluster of activity leading towards the replimat. Jadzia was following close behind, and as she ran she slowed enough to motion for him-  
  
"Julian! You too!" She called, and he followed closely, confused. They both nearly collided with the stilled Security officers in the entryway to the replimat, the Bajoran men in their tan uniforms apparently shocked. They moved aside as the blue-suited officers pushed past them, only to be similarly stunned as they stood beside Odo, whose expression was almost unreadable, but seemed quite distressed.  
  
"I do not recall this many children being onboard the station." Odo growled, voice quiet. In front of them, a group of teenagers sat in stunned confusion, a few of them standing, looking around in panic. Julian was astounded - he'd seen to most of the station personally, and he knew there weren't this many children. It was Jadzia, however, who stared at a nearby young man, dark-skinned and wide-eyed, who was looking at their uniforms and approaching-   
  
"...Benjamin?" Jadzia whispered.  
  
"How do you know my name? What's going on?!... _Where am I_?"


	2. Chapter 2

The replimat was tense, the air abuzz with a mix of panic, confusion, and outright disbelief. Security scrambled to control the teenagers, several of whom had fled from the replimat already and were being pursued through the promenade, or had disappeared into the crowd outright. The others were being asked, coaxed, comforted into staying calm as they could manage.  
  
Jadzia, however...Jadzia stood there and stared at Benjamin.  
  
He was only a few years younger than Curzon's earliest memories of him. Broad-shouldered and dressed in those brilliantly colored earth styles his son was so fond of. He looked...concerned, brow furrowed, but was looking expectantly to Jadzia. After all, she'd said his name, hadn't she?  
  
"Where am I?" He asked again, hands balling into fists and relaxing repeatedly.  
  
"You're on a station, called Deep Space Nine." She swallowed hard. "Benjamin, how old are you?"  
  
"Seventeen...who are you?" Jadzia smiled, trying to be comforting, but unable to dismiss the worry from her face entirely. "...What's going on? You're starfleet, right?" He looked at her uniform, a touch confused. They didn't look quite like this when he was young, she realized.  
  
"My name is Jadzia. And we're not sure what's going on yet, but we're going to find out. What's the last thing you remember?"  
  
He had to take a moment to think. "I was at the restaurant, and we were cleaning up after the lunch rush..." He glanced around, unsettled. Two young Vulcans were speaking with the men in tan uniform and Bashir, gently coaxing those they were near to sit down. "And then I was _here_. With that man."  
  
"A man?" Jadzia's eyebrows went up, and Benjamin nodded, looking at the table he'd been at. "What did he look like?"  
  
"I don't know...just like a guy. And then he just...disappeared, like, into thin air. He was right there, but I mean...I wasn't sure he was real. I'll be honest, I'm not sure _this_ is real." Benjamin gestured to the empty chair.  
  
"I think that's pretty reasonable, given the situation." Jadzia sighed, before they both jerked upright to look as there was a crash and commotion.  
  
A security officer was holding a struggling young Bajoran, clearly terrified. Another two of the young Bajorans tackled the officer, and suddenly Odo was there, hauling them aside, arms morphing to push them away beyond a humanoid's reach.  
  
Julian grabbed another one who made an attempt on the officer, shouting for them to calm down.  
  
"Stay here, Benjamin, I have to help-" Jadzia stated hastily as she turned to join the growing fray.  
  
It was impossible to blame them, after all, she realized that these were all Bajorans who would've been in the occupation one moment, and here the next. On a Cardassian station, unmistakably designed with it's harsh angles. And to have this many of them suddenly displaced and all together...well, she could only imagine the confusion the ones who'd gotten out onto the promenade were dealing with.  
  
~  
  
The security officers looking for them weren't doing much  better, honestly, circling around the promenade. A few of the young men and women who'd darted away came to stops, went to the officers willingly but cautiously, realizing that wherever they were...it looked like a Cardassian station, but there wasn't a single Cardassian in sight.  
  
As the few remaining youths who had fled and had no intention of calming escaped down side halls and through doorways, the officers followed. That was when they stumbled across the second calamity of the day, quite literally, the unlucky officer nearly stumbling over the body in a side hall, only catching himself to stare, concerned, at the body of another security officer.  
  
The dead man was laid back, clearly toppled in the midst of pursuit, a prominent burn on the front of his uniform leaving no doubt as to the cause of death- phaser fire. The living man glanced down the hall, realizing they were alone, whomever did this had already run off. He tapped his combadge.  
  
"Security to all availible officers, we have a situation. _Another one_."  
  
~  
  
 _Stay here_ , the Trill had said. Part of Benjamin wanted to do so, to be patient, to stay calm. After all, wherever he was, there were Starfleet officers trying to handle the situation, right?  
  
 _Yeah, no_. Benjamin realized no-one was watching him and looked at the exit. Occupied with the fight as they were, nobody would notice if he made a break for it. It was a stupid, impulsive idea.  
  
Of course, he didn't realize that last part until he was already outside. Whoops. But what was the point of being seventeen if you weren't going to make a few poor decisions? He'd just been snapped out of his father's resturant off to Heavens-know-where, and nobody seemed to be able to explain it, so he was feeling a tad shaken and a tad impulsive.  
  
He dodged around people- Bajorans, mostly, a few other of starfleet species he tried to avoid, until he found a hall and slowed to a casual walk down it, curiosity guiding him on an aimless path.  
  
Once he found an open room and a computer, he found himself at a loss for what questions to possibly ask.  
  
When had Starfleet uniforms changed? She'd said Deep Space Nine, where was that? How far from Earth was he? These people were Bajorans, but he was struggling to remember a single thing about Bajor other than that there was some sort of occupation? A war, maybe? His head buzzed with potential questions, too many to sort and organize.  
  
"I would suggest asking the computer about yourself. It's very enlightening." Came a voice from behind him, and he damn near jumped out of his skin. When he whirled around to face whomever had snuck up behind him, he jumped again.  
  
A Cardassian! Wearing drab green and no older than him, just another kid, it seemed. Stocky in build and unassuming enough to sooth Sisko's nerves slightly. Very slightly.  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Benjamin shot at the young man, with a glare.  
  
"You were in the replimat. As was I." A chalky-white finger pointing. "I'm not wrong in my assumption that neither of us are supposed to be here, am I?" He had a soft voice, and something about it made Benjamin nervous. "Ask it about yourself." That smile felt forced, fake...almost threatening.  
  
Still, he turned to the computer, and made his request.  
  
"Computer, who is Benjamin Sisko?"  
  
" _Commander Benjamin Sisko is the current Federation commanding officer of the Bajoran station, Deep Space Nine_."  
  
His eyebrows went up, and he turned to the Cardassian, who made a gesture best interperated as 'don't ask me I don't know', before looking back to the computer at a picture of a man with intense eyes. And a beard.  
  
"Oh no." Benjamin whispered, suddenly struck by the absolute absurdity of the situation he was in, if this was what he thought it was, if this was the future, then... "...I'm going to be bald?"  
  
 _Priorities_. The young Cardassian dropped his head into his hand and rubbed along his ridges. Humans really were ridiculous, weren't they?

Then again, he didn't have room to complain, having already asked the computer his name and gotten his answer. Who ever heard of someone at the Bamarren Institute becoming a _tailor_ of all things?


	3. Chapter 3

"I shouldn't be looking at this." Benjamin stated, turning away from the computer, taking very visible effort to resist the temptation to read more. "There's rules about this! Time travel and, and the risk of changing the future!"  
  
"Maybe for the Federation, but I see absolutely no reason we can't take a little look." The Cardassian moved in front of him, to the computer, and Benjamin paced. "So, _Commander_..." He couldn't help but notice that the human grinned when he said that. "...what would you like to know?"  
  
"Nothing! I've already learned enough." He patted his short, dense curls protectively. The Cardassian tutted, and began typing. At least this station still had Cardassian consoles, although he was curious as to why a Cardassian station seemed to be packed of nothing but Bajorans and Starfleet...ah, well. Plenty of time to read up on that.  
  
"Nonesense. Learning is a state of being, and one never stops learning."  
  
"Fine, then." Benjamin kicked at the floor, and waited a moment, hearing the computer chirp over whatever the Cardassian boy was doing, before he spoke up again. "What's your name?"  
  
"You may call me Elim." He said with some hesitation. It was strange not to introduce himself as Ten Lubak, but then, this hardly seemed like the time for school titles.  
  
"...Elim, okay." Benjamin waited another long minute, and realized that the young man was eerily quiet and still, no wonder he hadn't noticed him earlier, when he'd first ducked into the open room. "...So, just out of curiosity, what are you-?"  
  
"I'm looking up the address of my living quarters on the station. I have a distinct feeling that I will need somewhere to hide, shortly."  
  
"Oh! Okay, that's a good idea, can you do mine?" Benjamin peered over Elim's should, getting uncomfortably close.  
  
"Don't you have to go turn yourself in to Starfleet? They're looking for everybody who was in the replimat, you know." Elim hissed, leaning away, and Benjamin moved closer, testing the unspoken limit of proximity to the other.  
  
"Oh, I will. When I'm done having a little poke about."  
  
"Were you not just saying that there were rules regarding time travel.?" Elim glared.  
  
"Hey, man, you were the one who said that we should take a little look. What was it? _Learning is a state of being_?" The Human grinned, and the Cardassian rolled his eyes with a theatrical sigh, and made a few quick keystrokes before backing away, gesturing to the screen.  
  
 **RESIDENCE, SISKO**  
  
"...You know your way around a computer, Elim. Should I be worried?" Benjamin's tone was teasing, but his smile fell flat with the soft mutter that was Elim's response, and the serious stare.  
  
"A comprehensive education is _invaluable_."  
  
~  
  
The infirmary was packed with young adults, and Bashir was about ready to lose his head over it. At least they had all calmed down from the fight, and seemed to be more comfortable in the presence of the Bajoran doctors and nurses who flit around them, tending to bruises and offering soothing words. The poor staff had been all called in at once, but it was well-needed.  
  
"Odo's taking care of our _other_ emergency today." Jadzia huffed as she came up behind Julian, reading a PADD with her brow furrowed in concern. "Security sent me this on the way there. It's security's latest sweep in the replimat, before...well...before everybody was turned into teenagers."  
  
"Well, we know at least one kid who's missing." Julian sighed, trying to take a headcount of everybody within' the Infirmary.  
  
"It's not just Benjamin, Julian." Jadzia's voice dipped a little, uncertain as she looked over the list of names again. "Looks like one of the runners was Kira."  
  
He paused in his counting, and frowned, startled. "Major Kira? She was in the replimat?" She nodded, and he sighed. "Damn. I suppose the computer still can't find anybody?"  
  
"No. The physical change they've undergone is too abrupt in most cases, the scanners won't recognize them." She let a pause hang in the air, heavy, and Julian realized she was looking at him expectantly.  
  
"What's _that_ look for?"  
  
" _Garak_ was also noted as being in the replimat at the time."  
  
"...Oh, no." He whispered. "I was going to meet him for lunch- he must have gone early to sit and read." Julian looked over the clusters of teenagers again, confused. "...You'd think we'd notice a teenaged Cardassian wandering around."  
  
"You really think Garak would be wandering out in the open at any age?" Jadzia sighed. "Once things are settled in here, Security needs all the help it can get finding everybody else. We're still missing five others, on top of Benjamin, Kira, and Garak." She looked over the mess of confused kids, sympathetic. Poor teenagers, absolutely lost.  
  
Something was nagging in the back of her mind, though, a thought, something Benjamin had said before the fight broke out.  
  
That man.  
  
A man who was there, and had disappeared immediately after the change had happened.  
  
"...I think I know who did this."  
  
~  
  
Odo crouched by the body, scowling. A murder was bad on any day. A murder on a day when there was already mayhem...well, he was going to be in a far fouler mood than was typical. A handful of other security officers moved around him, checking down halls, looking for unlocked doors or abandoned weapons.  
  
"Phaser burn. Fatal. Whomever did this, did it at close quarters." He growled to another officer, standing over him. "If there was a struggle, it was a short one. His phaser's missing- I assume that's what was used to kill him."  
  
"We're looking for anywhere a phaser could've been discarded."  
  
"Good." Odo stood, arms folded, trying to imagine what could've happened. A security officer, chasing after a fleeing teenager, running into something he wasn't supposed to see? No...he had been going after the runners. He must've caught one of them, and they responded...poorly. Part of him was sharply reminded of when he ran security during the occupation. "Have they finished the headcount in the Infirmary?"  
  
"Yes, sir." The officer handed him a PADD, and Odo read through the names, noting who had been present. And who was still missing.  
  
" _Hrm_." He grunted, uncertain of what to think, when his eyes ran over the Cardassians name, and he inwardly hoped that he was wrong in his assumptions that it was one of those who had been suddenly regressed in age.  
  
~  
  
Elsewhere on the station, a Bajoran was crawling through a maintenence tube on hands and knees, moving fast and feeling panic pounding in her heart. She was young, skinny, her red hair a wild mess that was coming free of it's braid. This was a Cardassian station. She was surrounded by Cardassian shapes and angles, those unsettling doorways she'd learned to avoid going through...  
  
She needed to get away, to be alone. The crowd on the promenade had startled her- she hadn't seen any Cardassians, but that didn't mean they weren't somewhere.  
  
There had been too much panic for her to really notice anything else, and one loose wall panel later she was hidden and safe.  
  
If completely lost.  
  
"Oh, no, _damn it_ -" She whined through her teeth, turning around another branch in the ductwork only to come up against a dead end. Turning was uncomfortable in the tight quarters, even for a petite young woman like her, and she didn't like being in an awkward position.  
  
She resumed crawling the opposite way, and pulled back with a yelp as she peered around a corner and found someone else already in the tube, who glanced up at her exclamation.  
  
"...Who's there?" He called, and she slowly looked around the corner. A human man? She kept hidden, holding her breath so he wouldnt hear her, and listened to him mumble. " _Damn it, you think I'd been able to check the jefferies once without finding something up here_ \- Hello?"  
  
She stole another quick glance, and knew that he saw her, but he stayed where he was. The uniform looked familiar, in some sort of vague, distant way. Something she had seen once, in a holo or a picture? Yellow and black, on a human...  
  
Starfleet. Her memory finally settled on her. Starfleet! That was Federation...what was the Federation doing on a Cardassian station?  
  
Then again, what was she doing on a Cardassian station? She couldn't answer that one for the life of her. Still...Starfleet was an enemy to Cardassia, and _the enemy of my enemy_...  
  
"It's alright. I'm not gonna report you to station security..." He sighed, shifting where he was, and stayed very still as she emerged, crawling towards him.  
  
"...Are you starfleet?" She asked, her voice coming out raspy. He stared at her, wide-eyed, startled.  
  
"... _Kira_?"  
  
O'Brien realized, then, that he would have to give security a chime anyways.


	4. Chapter 4

  
"I can't belive that's Kira." Jadzia whispered, keeping her voice soft. The infirmary had...calmed, and she was loathe to draw any attention or make any of the gathered people tense. "I mean, half of them are just like that...it's still weird."  
  
Julian had to nod in agreement, looking over the slender kid who sat near O'Brien, warily looking around. "You're telling me. At least we've found most of them. The only two we're still missing are Garak and Benjamin." Julian didn't miss Jadzia's frown, and shifted his weight. "I'm sure they're doing fine. Garak seems like the type who'd know to stay out of trouble."  
  
"It's not him I'm worried about, honestly. If Q did this to prove a point to Benjamin, there must be a reason. And I have a bad feeling that reason is that Benjamin wasn't always exactly as...well, put-together as we're used to him being now." Julian tried to imagine that for a moment, and realized why Jadzia might have been worried.  
  
"...Oh."  
  
~  
  
Nerys trusted the man, to a point. She could just about trust most of these people, now that she'd calmed down. Starfleet and Bajorans on a Cardassian station? They didn't tell her much, but she could at least appreciate that their presence was far, far more comforting than the Cardassians would have been.  
  
His name was Miles, apparently, and when she'd said that she wasn't coming out of the maintence tube, not on a Cardassian station, he'd at least stated that this was a Bajoran station now. And that he wouldn't trust Cardies much, either.  
  
"So, you've fought the Cardassians?" She asked, voice a whisper. The Infirmary they were all in felt oppressively quiet, everyone keeping to themselves, and she went with that. He nodded, though, sitting back next to her.  
  
"Yeah. A few times." He answered, reminding himself to keep answer vague. "I was involved in some battles back in the day,  but it was some time ago."  
  
She nodded, bringing her knees up to her chest, and glanced to the door as another came in and began talking with the other two starfleet officers.  
  
~  
  
Odo paused by Julian and Jadzia, looking over the gathered adolescents, pausing as he spotted Kira and frowned.  
  
"...Find anything?" Jadzia asked, gently, and he huffed. "Oh."  
  
"No murder weapon, no evidence as to who did it...the computer can't identify who was in the hallway at the time, aside from Officer. Unless we happen to have a stowaway on the station..." He handed her another PADD, with a list of names. "...it's one of them. These are the people who initially escaped the replimat, who could've been in the hall with them. I'll need to speak with them, one at a time."  
  
"Oh, no..." Jadzia sighed.  
  
"You surely can't be considering badgering these kids, not now!" Bashir frowned. "Virtually all of them are terrified, and none of them could possibly be held responsible for their actions. Not now."  
  
"Be that as it may..." Odo sighed, shaking his head. "One of our officers is dead, and we're going to need the truth." They all looked over the kids, lingering on Kira again, who was cautiously speaking with Miles again.  
  
~  
  
"The door's locked." Benjamin sighed as he looked it over, glancing behind him to make sure that Elim was still there. The Cardassian had a tendency to be so quiet and still that he wasn't even sure if he was following Benjamin or not. He was there, though, and Ben grinned.  
  
"...I'm not just here to handle the computers for you." Elim huffed, but stepped forwards to the small panel beside the door, and in a moment the door was opening. They stepped in, and looked around curiously, Benjamin wondering in a haze of curiosity what his older self could possibly be like.  
  
He wasn't sure if he was disappointed or relieved that the quarters seemed...normal. Familiar, in a way, almost like home already was, back on Earth. He paused as he wandered to the center of the room, his gaze drawn to a baseball resting on a counter. Suddenly, he felt like an intruder, and as he picked it up a sudden sheepishness overcame him.  
  
"...Thanks for getting the door, Elim." He muttered, before looking up to the doorway where he'd left the other boy.  
  
That was not Elim in the doorway. As a matter of fact, there wasn't a Cardassian to be seen, just a young human man, tall and slender and vaguely familiar in the face, who looked very...very startled.  
  
"...Elim?" Benjamin gulped. Wherever his new friend had gotten off to, it wasn't here. And the young man in the door stared, clearly unsettled and tense and holding a PADD very firmly. "Oh no."  
  
"...Dad? Is that you?"  
  
"Oh no."  
  
He realized then that he should've read through the computer's profile of his future self, before coming here.  
  
~  
  
Elim felt a little bad about leaving the human to be discovered, but he wasn't about to get himself into trouble because Benjamin felt the need to linger. He'd be fine, he was sure of it. Besides, he had his own self to study, and that was something he'd rather do in private. It was surprising how easy it was to get to his quarters unnoticed, for being the only Cardassian on the station.  
  
A quick override of the door, and he was in a room that looked...bare.  
  
It was an easy thing to recognize. The room was like a display, set up, sparsely decorated, pleasing to the eyes. Unused, impersonal, and detached. It was almost comforting, in a roundabout way. Maybe his future self was here for other reasons- maybe the tailor's shop was an elaborate ruse? He could be an operative, he reasoned. On assignment. But for _years_?  
  
Elim crouched, studying a narrow bed with a single thin blanket. It was cold on this station- this couldn't have been where he'd sleep, could it?  
  
He was feeling deeply, deeply unsettled as he finally went to the computer, satisfied that however he lived, he lived alone, and logged in. He had reading to do, and the Station's security files seemed like a good place to start...  
  
~  
  
"Kira Nerys." Odo kept his voice as soft as he could, a feat that took considerable effort, and the young woman still flinched. She couldn't have been sixteen, even, he thought, with but a fraction of the strength in her body language that Kira seemed to have effortlessly.  
  
He'd already interviewed three others, to no results, and didn't want to think about what that did for her chances. "You're aware of why you're here?"  
  
"No." She mumbled, cautiously, and he shifted back against his desk. They were alone in the office, at least, and that helped. "I don't know anything."  
  
"...Kira." Odo sighed. "...Chief O'Brien, I trust, explained where you were?"  
  
"The future." She muttered, sounding very...distrustful of that idea. "He said we'd all been... _replaced_ , or something."  
  
"Yes. You've taken the places of your adult selves." He walked around his desk, moving slow, cautious, noting that she kept an eye on him as he leaned back against the desk, holding a PADD. "The Kira Nerys I know is a good friend of mine. Maybe one of the only ones I have." She didn't respond to that, keeping quiet, looking at his knees.  
  
"...There's not going to be any consequences for anything that's happened, however. None of you can really be considered in your right mind, at the moment. It's a stressful day, today." Odo was watching, carefully. She looked away from him, pointedly. "When you left the replimat, were you followed by a security officer?" He asked, and received no answer, just a slight tension that gathered across her shoulders. "We can understand if something happened, Nerys, but we need to know if you know anything." Odo struggled to keep his voice soft, calm, and went to place a hand on her shoulder only for her to flinch, and he drew it back, wary. "Nerys?"  
  
~  
  
It was easy to find something that had been discarded, when you knew what to expect. It had been difficult to get into the narrow side tube of the jeffries, but for a frightened kid? It was easy, though the way the walls scraped at his sides and arms as he moved made him move faster than he'd have liked.  
  
Once he was back into a larger tunnel, though, better-illuminated, he relaxed, and took a good long look at the prize he'd recovered, hastily dumped into an open panel. A simple security phaser.  
  
For a moment, as he looked over it, he brieftly felt like the protagnist of an Engima Tale, seeking out answers to a murder nobody else seemed to have. Then again, as he'd so recently learned, being pleased with yourself only led to disappointment when others failed to recognize it. He checked the settings, and thought over a sentimentally empty room with no traces of the man who lived there, save for a box of chocolates found tucked away underneath a desk, a sizeable collection of novels he did not recognize, and almost archaic sets of patterns, printed on fragile paper.  
  
 _Disappointment_ , indeed.  
  
~  
  
Nerys was shaking, pitifully, and Odo didn't know what to do about it other than watch. There was no placing of a hand on the girl's shoulder, no, that would have given her just enough of a startle to flee. Instead there was just...waiting, wishing she were herself so he would know how to speak to her.  
  
"Nerys, if this is too stressful, we can end this interview. I have others to ask-"  
  
She covered her face with her hands and her words came out garbled, quiet. Fearful. All he could make out was "I didn't..."  
  
"...What?" He crouched, down to her level as she bent forwards, breathing deep. "...Nerys, please tell me, if you saw something-" She shook her head.  
  
"It's a C-Cardassian station! I just saw-and I ran-I was just trying to get away!"  
  
~  
  
Jake moved to answer the door's chime nervously, giving his father, barely younger than him, a slight smile. How the young man had talked him into not calling security wasn't a mystery at all, even as a kid Benjamin Sisko had a way with convincing people, and Jake was reluctant to pass up the chance to talk to his father as another kid. It was nice, to see him like this, without the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.  
  
Still, the door chimed again, and he huffed. "I'm coming, I'm coming- open." He directed, and the door opened on a shorter Cardassian, his hands folded in front of himself, looking very...expectant. "...Mister Garak?" He blinked, stepping back, and Benjamin stood from the couch.  
  
"Elim! What the _hell_ have you been up to? You ditched me!"  
  
"I didn't want you to get the impression that I actually cared about whatever you were looking for." Elim replied, droll. "I'm going to need your computer to do a bit of reading. I'm afraid we're going to break some of your precious 'temporal violation' rules. At least, moreso than we already have."  
  
Benjamin blinked as he approached Elim, then glanced at Jake, who shrugged, feeling a sudden discomfort as he realized he was the oldest person in the room.  
  
"...what's going on?" Benjamin frowned, and took in Elim's stern gaze. How the Cardassian's face could go from a sarcastic smile to such a harsh, serious glare was impressive.  
  
"Lets just say that not _everybody_ has adjusted to their sudden change of scenery as well as you have." And he made a beeline for the computer terminal, stepping betwen Jake and Benjamin in his path.  
  
~  
  
"Nerys, please calm down." Odo made a gentle motion, as if to touch her arm, and she swatted at his hand, pushing it away.  
  
"It's not my fault! I didn't- _I didn't do anything_!" She burst out, eyes wide, jerking away from him, off her seat, staggering back until her back was flush with the wall. If it were possible for Odo to feel the sinking sensation of heartbreak, this was it, somewhere in his empty chest. "I _didn't know_ -"  
  
"If something happened, we need to know." He watched as her legs shook and she slid down the wall. He crouched to follow her down until she was sitting upon the floor, tears in her eyes.  
  
" _I didn't know_...I thought he was a collaborator."  
  
Her soft sobs were choked and she put her hands to her face again, leaving Odo speechless in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have one chapter to fix this up and possibly a short epilogue oh jeeze time to exercise some wrapping-up skills haha ha ha hhhh I HAVE NEVER FINISHED A MULTI-CHAPTER FANFIC GOD HELP ME I WILL FINISH THIS ONE.


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